Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

THE INFLUENCE OF THE PERCEIVED QUALITY OF COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTS ON LOW-INCOME WOMEN’S EFFORTS TO WALK MORE

  • Published:
Journal of Community Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

There is increasing interest in how the quality of community environments influences health. We present the results of a pilot study designed to encourage overweight and obese low-income women to increase their level of physical activity, and explore the factors that either support or constrain their walking. The findings suggest that even relatively small increases in lifestyle physical activity among overweight or obese low-income women (an increase in 2,000 steps per day) can lead to significant weight loss. The interviews we carried out with study participants suggest there are several ways in which the perceived quality of community environments affects low-income women’s efforts to increase their steps. Having friends and family living within walking distance was supportive of participant’s efforts, in some cases because their homes represented places to walk to, and in others because in addition, friends and family were walking companions. The perceived lack of safety participants reported as a constraint to walking reflected in some cases the fear of being assaulted or harassed, and in others the fear that passers-by would not stop to help if needed. Our findings point to the importance of including community-level interventions that address residents’ safety and security concerns, along with future efforts to increase physical activity and decrease obesity among low-socioeconomic status groups.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Kuczmarski RJ, Johnson CL. Overweight and obesity in the United States: Prevalence and trends, 1960–1994. Int J Obesity 1998; 22:39-47. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6T1G-3SXDB3K-1RT/2/c5489f96cab7bbfbeefc302c5adfc18c

    Google Scholar 

  2. Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Ogden CL, Johnson CL. Prevalence and trends in obesity among US adults, 1999-2000. JAMA 2002; 288:1723-1727. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WVB-46YTJG4-26V/2/ebc8f5a7701444a7d1433e86df81bb94

    Google Scholar 

  3. Sobal J, Stunkard AJ. (1989). Socioeconomic status and obesity: A review of the literature. Psychology Bulletin 105:260–275

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wardle J, Waller J, Jarvis MJ. Sex differences in the association of socioeconomic status with obesity. Am J Public Health 2002; 92:1299-1304. Available from: http://www.ajph.org/cgi/content/abstract/92/8/1299

    Google Scholar 

  5. Drewnowski A, Specter S. Poverty and obesity: The role of energy density and energy costs. Am J Clin Nutr 2004; 79:6–16. Available from: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/79/1/6

    Google Scholar 

  6. Ford ES, Merritt RK, Heath GW, et al. (1991) Physical activity behaviors in lower and higher socioeconomic status population. Am J Epidemio 133:1246–1256

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Pratt M, Macera CA, Blanton C. (1999). Levels of physical activity and inactivity in children and adults in the United States: Current evidence and research issues. Med Sci Sport Exer 31:S526–S533

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Fuchs R, Heath GW, Wheeler FC. (1992). Perceived morbidity as a determinant of health behavior. Health Educ Res 7:327–334

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Jeffery RW, French SA, Forster JL, Spry VM. (1991). Socioeconomic status differences in health behaviors related to obesity: The healthy worker project. Int J Obesity 15:689–696

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Jeffery RW, French SA. (1996). Socioeconomic status and weight control practices among 20–45 year old women. Am J Public Health 86:1005–1010

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Jeffery RW, French SA. (1998). Epidemic obesity in the United States: Are fast food and television viewing contributing?. Am J Public Health 88:277–280

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. French SA, Harnack L, Jeffery RW. (2000). Fast food restaurant use among women in the Pound of Prevention Study: Dietary, behavioral and demographic correlates. Int J Obesity 24:1353–1359

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Giuliano G. (2003). Travel, location and race/ethnicity. Transport Res A-Pol 37:351–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Pucher J, Renne JL. (2003). Socioeconomics of urban travel: Evidence from the 2001 NHTS. Transport Q 57:49–77

    Google Scholar 

  15. Weinstein A, Schimek P. How much do Americans walk? An analysis of the 2001 NHTS. 2004. manuscript

  16. Massey DS, Denton NA. (1993). American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press

    Google Scholar 

  17. Wilson WJ. (1987). The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy. Chicago, University of Chicago Press

    Google Scholar 

  18. Ross CE. (2000). Walking, exercising, and smoking: Does neighborhood matter?. Soc Sci Med 51:265–274

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. US Department of Health and Human Services. Physical activity and health: A report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; 1996.

  20. Tudor-Locke C, Bassett DR. (2004). How many steps/day are enough? Preliminary pedometer indices for public health. Sports Med 24:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Massey DS. (2004). Segregation and stratification: A biosocial perspective. Du Bois Review 1:7–25

    Google Scholar 

  22. McEwen B, Lasley EN. (2002). The End of Stress as we Know it. Washington, D.C., The Joseph Henry Press

    Google Scholar 

  23. Eyler AA, Brownson RC, Donatelle RJ, King AC, Brown D, Sallis JF. Physical activity social support and middle- and older-aged minority women: Results from a US survey. Soc Sci Med 1999; 49:781-789. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VBF-3WV9M0H-6/2/4d28410913d7666579eafae8aa76f287

    Google Scholar 

  24. Skogan WG. (1990). Disorder and Decline. New York, Free Press

    Google Scholar 

  25. Forrest R, Kearns A. (2001). Social cohesion, social capital and the neighborhood. Urban Stud 38:2125–2143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Putnam RD. (1995). Bowling alone: American’s declining social capital. J Democr 6(1):65–78

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Demography & Population Health, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-2240, USA

    Rebecca Miles PhD & Lynn Panton PhD, FACSM

Authors
  1. Rebecca Miles PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lynn Panton PhD, FACSM
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca Miles PhD.

Additional information

Rebecca Miles, PhD is Associate Professor, Florida State University; Lynn Panton, PhD, FACSM is Assistant Professor, Florida State University

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Miles, R., Panton, L. THE INFLUENCE OF THE PERCEIVED QUALITY OF COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENTS ON LOW-INCOME WOMEN’S EFFORTS TO WALK MORE. J Community Health 31, 379–392 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-006-9021-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-006-9021-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation